Christmas in Denver


(Above) Enjoying an outside walk.


(Above) Dodo and Grant


(Above) Justin propping Kellen and Grant in a big bag of wrapping paper on Christmas morning.


(Above) Trammell and Grant


(Above) Uncle Brian and Kellen


(Above) We were able to meet up with the Bakers who moved back to Colorado after business school. Outside a Mexican restaurant in Denver stands Banks, Sophia, Jen, Malina, Steph, Grant, Justin, and Kellen.

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Our stay in Denver over Christmas week was memorable for so many reasons: family, weather, the twins' first Christmas, oh, yeah, and the norovirus that Grant caught then spread to just about everyone, made the trip extra special.

Top 11 highlights:

1. Upon our arrival on Christmas Eve, (Uncle) J brought the twins in to meet 7 of their 9 cousins for the first time. The energy in the room was both invigorating and inviting. The boys were in awe of all the attention, and at several hours past their bedtime, they were on their best behavior. Kellen, especially, enjoyed watching the ceiling fan in Auntie Gina's house as he and Grant were passed from one set of loving arms to another. It was a scene from a Hallmark card or a Christmas carol: Oh, there's no place like home for the holidays.

2. The freak blizzards allowed us entry to the Denver Airport just after the first storm, but delayed our departure one day just after the second storm. It also allowed my nephew Parker to take a Christmas morning (12:01 a.m.) luge ride outside his front door. I forgot to ask him if he saw Santa jumping down any chimneys.

3. The norovirus. Uggh. First Grant. Then me. Then Kellen. Then Jodi (Dodo).

4. Playing Speed Rummy and adding new rules continuously; playing Speed Yahtzee with Parker and X. while laughing the entire time; playing Hoops with 5-year-old G. and losing almost every time; playing SCUM while J. talked with a Chicago accent; playing Speed Scrabble while nibbling the best Saltine crackers I had ever tasted.

5. Wrapping presents with Justin, J. and M. until 3 a.m. Christmas morning.

6. Celebrating Gina's birthday at a BBQ joint and not noticing that Grant spewed what Justin dubbed "Green Bean Salsa" that no one noticed until we were about to leave the restaurant and saw it on the floor.

7. Meeting Trammell's girlfriend Allie and realizing how mature he is about it when most teenagers would get embarrassed about girlfriend/boyfriend talk around their families. And realizing that when I first met Trammell he was five years old. Oh how time flies.

8. Watching old home videos and seeing a younger version of almost everyone in the room.

9. Watching my neices and nephews throw all of their wrapping paper from their Christmas presents over to the twins, who seemed to love and rip through the paper with as much enthusiasm as they could muster.

10. Catching up with the Baker family.

11. Watching each individual family member hold the boys and realize the answer to their prayers was looking back at them. ---SM

All week the boys have been playing with their nativity set that Dodo and Grandpa gave to them. Grant is getting two new teeth, in addition to the four he already has, so he loves chewing on all of the pieces---including the baby Jesus in the photo below. I hope that's not too sacriligious; afterall, it's through their mouths that the boys are becoming inculturated.

We haven't had any snow yet, but we have celebrated vicariously with our family in Denver and their many feet of snow. I guess we'll be dreaming of a white Christmas this year! ---SM

A new baby wrapped in a red bow?! Don't get your hopes up. This is a different kind of baby: Justin's 21-window 1965 deluxe VW bus was delivered last Friday night after a long, 15-month incubation. Oh, and the red bow is in the form of the sealing-wax red paint job.

The long and the short of it:
Justin and I left the boys with Cynthia, jumped on the Metra toward the suburbs, were picked up by Jared and Matia at the station, then drove out to Marengo, IL to Vintage Auto Body Werks and Tony (pictured above), the master-builder.

The anticipation was so apparent in Justin's demeanor, I liken it to a five-year-old waiting to dive into all his Christmas presents. His expression and awe may actually have been worth the $XX,XXX's of dollars (Wait a minute...did I just say that? I think the gas fumes are affecting my coherence.)

And the background:
For those of you who didn't know, Justin is a hard-core VW bus hobbyist. He drove one in high school and so did I, but our first purchase was a '67 walk-through in Florida about 4 years ago. We've since ditched that one (too much rust) and have bought about 3 or 4 that also have been sold.

The "sacred cow" that was completely rebuilt is now sitting in our garage, only to be used on special occassions or when Justin feels like stirring up a few peace signs as he drives by. That's guaranteed. We almost had to sell our first born to get insurance in the city, but that's another story.

The tale continues...
but I have to feed a baby first! ---SM

More pictures to come!

For the last week, I've watched Kellen pull himself slowly up to standing. He'll lean his weight on anything that seems somewhat stable---the ottoman, the wall, the highchair, my leg. The best was when I found him after a nap in his crib. He was standing so that he faced me when I walked in the door; he used both hands and his mouth gnaw to steady himself along the railing. He was so happy, and seemingly proud of himself, that I ran out of the room, grabbed my camera, then I put Grant in the crib with him!
---SM

(Note: Grant stands steady, but he cannot yet pull himeself up nor can he let himself down. He is, however, an excellent poser!)

I don't know when my mom began taking pictures of the person in our family when he/she topped the tree, but I know it's been a while. This year, in line with tradition, just as Justin was about to put the star atop our freshly purchased Home Depot tree, I grabbed the closest baby (it happened to be Grant), handed him over to Justin, asked them to pose for a picture, and voila: a moment to remember!

Thank goodness no one tipped over in the process! ---SM

December first marked the first snow of the season, and Bryan Berkey, who is visiting Chicago, celebrated it with us (although I was hoping he would bring weather a little more closely matched to his Hawaiian hometown). Jared joined Bryan for part of the week to hang out, attend the radiology convention, and apparently subject himself to screaming torture throughout the night. (I am really glad the two of them are dads because Grant and Kellen have had a very rough week.)

Grant had his first fever; for two nights, he slept with me at night (if you can call it sleep!) because it was the only place he wasn't restless. I felt extra sorry for Justin who was up every hour the night before leaving for his overnight business trip. Both boys are teething---Grant's two top teeth are trying to poke through, and Kellen's first bottom left tooth has cut.
--SM

We spent Thanksgiving in sunny California. One of the more remarkable observations I made during our visit included how green everything was, a stark contrast to the very barren Chicagoland I currently call home.

When I was a child, my grandmother had always told me to be thankful that I lived in California where it is green year round. I didn't believe her until I saw the difference between where I grew up and where I live now. She was right, and I was thankful I finally recognized what she meant.

Here are a few other reasons we thanked California for this season, in no particular order:

1. Kellen expanded his bath splashing days and went swimming in a real swimming pool with Justin. The Nuno family heated their pool and invited one and all, including about a dozen kids, to have a blast.

2. My very stalwart grandfather told me that he never really held babies much before Kellen and Grant. When I asked him why he said that maybe he's just getting a little bit more mellow in his old age. I loved watching him bounce Grant up and down on his knee and tell Grant, like he's told me so many times before, "don't look down. Hold your head up high."

3. I visited with a few old friends and got to see their children.

4. I drove "Tuny-can" (a very inside joke) and realized I was grateful to have a mode of transportation.

5. My mom, dad, and sister woke up with, fed, and put to bed the boys...just because they wanted to.

6. My cousin John drove down from Utah to celebrate the holiday with us, and he let my sister and me give him a little bit of fashion direction.

7. My dad and Justin enjoyed, once again, working on "projects" together. Endless trips to the hardware store didn't seem to bother them much.

8. None of the Turkey Bowl players got hurt, even the ones who played opposite those who either trained with or played with the NFL.

9. Couch shopping

10. Having attended a Cheiko Okasaki speaking event with my sister and mom and seeing old friends at the event who stopped by afterward to see the boys.

12. I wore my sister's shoes.

13. I sat with my family on the front lawn as we watched my dad put up the Christmas lights---all by himself.

14. Being able to go to dinner with Uncle Bart.

15. All the friends who stopped by to see the boys.

---SM

Most characteristics about the Marcucci twins are unique---from eye shape to temperament, even though passers-by want so desparately for the boys to be the same (because aren't all twins the same?!). Strange, when in the next breath many of those onlookers offer unsolicited advice, "Whatever you do, don't compare the twins. Remember that they're very different."

Of course the advice is generic, but it is important, and it is pretty easy to follow with a couple of guys like Kellen and Grant. In fact, at the doctor's office today, several people---including the doctor, commented on how the boys look so different that they don't even appear to be brothers. While I'm not so sure about that, I do agree that they are quite dissimilar. For today, two ways, in particular come to mind:

1. Grant is unmistakeable when he flashes his two bottom teeth, and Kellen has discovered his tongue is more of a show piece.

2. Rub-a-dub-dub, tonight we were three in a tub. For the first time ever, Kellen and Grant took a bath in our tub (they usually shower with Dad or bathe in the sink). I joined them to provide stability and prevent casualties since they are just learning to sit up on their own. Kellen loved it so much that he literally splashed around---slapping his hands on top of the water, for half an hour. Grant, on the other hand, preferred to relax, so he curled up and laid in my lap the entire duration, making almost no movement except occassionally to gnaw on a wading rubber duck.

(...Then again, aren't dissimilarities comparisons, too?) Hmph. ---SM